Advice for harbour raids

[Wreford-Brown]

What harbours have you raided, when did you raid them and what advice can you offer to fellow Kaleuns who wish to follow in your footsteps?

If you enjoy harbour raiding then please give others the benefit of your hard won experience. What route did you take, what ships were anchored, what ships defended the harbour?

I've raided Gibraltar in April 1941. It is possible to get almost to the Rock of Gibraltar under the layer (160m or deeper) then creep into the harbour area. HMS Nelson (33k tons) and a small depot ship (6500 tons) were on the north western side and three Southampton/London class (10-13k tons each) were on the north eastern side along with a couple of static destroyers. In the harbour itself there's another Southampton class plus a troop transporter, modern tanker, large and medium cargo and a few other smaller ships. Watch out for torpedo nets on the northern side of the harbour - I took a lot of damage when I hit one net and broke the surface for a few seconds as those capital ships have a shedload of firepower (but can't traverse very quickly). Torpedo nets in general seem to finish about 2 submarine widths from the harbour walls in any port, so I sneak in by running very close to harbour walls.
The only things protecting Gib are the static surface ship's guns and 2 or 3 ASW trawlers and Isles class, all of which seem to be either blind and deaf or just plain stupid in early 1941.

Edit 02-08-2008 09:10 PM: Just completed the patrol (had to break away to reload externals) and finished up with just over 150k tons and over 4800 renown. Not bad for a couple of days work!

[Oberon]

Portsmouth has a sub net at the narrowest point of the channel in, and also a rather shallow section you'll have to surface to get over. So therefore, do it in very low vis otherwise your conning tower will get peppered by the shore defences. Scapa Flow...well...it's a nest of zerstorers so watch your step, but the northern section of the eastern approach has a subnet and a gun/searchlight combo which can cover the north and south section so, once again, do it in low vis and watch out for the zerstorers when you've hit your target.

[PavelKirilovich]

Loch Ewes in late 1941 requires a close-to-the-coast approach at ahead one third. You can get to the mouth of the bay surfaced, then dive to periscope depth in a calm sea (otherwise your tower will broach) and creep in at ahead slow.

Escort carrier, four destroyers, T3 tanker, and sometimes a Dido-class. Haven't tried penetrating the harbour in mid-1942 (two raids only, late '41 and early '42) so I don't know when they move on to a better harbour or when Scapa Flow decides to relocate down to Ewes, increasing the ASW presence there hugely.

There's a small island on one side of the bay and a narrow band of water on the landward side of it. You can run in there and it'll narrow the angles that destroyers can come after you, but be aware of the gun emplacements. I found my least stressful operations in that area involved staying out of that small segment and simply creeping ahead to within 500m of my target before launching a torpedo at magazines / engine spaces and going silent for a creep away towards the next target.

Remember: If you can break contact, why not break contact towards your next objective? Don't let those ASWs drive you off if they're herding you in towards the ship next on your "To Sink" list.

[Fenris_Wolf]

what advice can you offer to fellow Kaleuns who wish to follow in your footsteps?

Sink them all

Oh, and go in playing the bagpipes tune! lol

[gordonmull]

My advice...

Don't follow in my footsteps! Every time I sail into an enemy harbour I die a slow death on the shallow bottom

[Marriott]

I've raided Loch Ewe in 1939, in GWX 2.0 it was easy to get in, with only a few ASW trawlers patrolling and maybe one destroyer. Because it was so early in the war there were a number of neutrals but i still managed to sink 5 enemy ships (4 merchants, 1 ASW trawler) I have also raided the port in the Faroe Islands but other then a few docked warships and a couple of puny fishing trawlers not much there. I raided that port in late 1940.

[Myszkin]

Southend (november 1939) - some merchants and...large troop ship (ex ocean liner) - ca. 25 000 BRT. Be aware of sub net and many escort vessels!

Hartlepool (january 1940) - only four vessels (small and medium merchants) + armed trawler and destroyer as a harbour guards.

[Blacklight]

Lock Ewe and Scapa Flow are a cakewalk in 1939 if the weather is good and you stay slow and submerged. I never harbor raid from 1940 on. WAY too dangerous.

[Kaptain Hans Wolf]

loch ewe is great, in late 39 i managed to sink the battleship nelson for 33,000 tons. how ever in the later years, its nearly suicidal trying to get into ports.

[Wreford-Brown]

Valetta, Dec 1941 and Oct 1942.

Hug the shore of the southern side of the island and the southern side of the harbour wall and you'll miss the sub nets. To find the southern side of the sub net, draw a line 2.9km long from the northern tip of the eastern breakwater directly due east. From this point, draw a second line 2.2km due south. If you stay between this point and the shore you'll get in behind the net and if you hug the eastern breakwater you'll get straight into the harbour.

Inside the harbour were a Small tanker, Small merchant, LST, Tribal class and 2 x V&W class.
If you return in Oct 1942 there's a T class submarine there as well.
Neutrals was a single Tramp Steamer.

Defending the harbour were at least 8 ASW ships - A&B class, C&D class, V&W class, Tribal class, Flower class. You name it, it's there.

Overall, hard work for little gain.

[GoldenRivet]

I have been harbor raiding in the Schnell Boot all weekend

great fun!

left lorient in my Schnell Boot and proceeded to hit 2 southern port cities... only problem is you only get 4 torps!

I rumbled in at low speed and fired a spred of two at a docked large tanker from about 800 meters range and made an ahead flank U-turn, they had no idea i was even there until the torpedoes hit the target and sent a massive fireball into the sky.

those two Mercedes-Benz engines sounded sweet turning high RPM as shells and tracers passed overhead. One destroyer gave chase but couldnt keep up.

the next day i stumbled across a large convoy. when the destroyer broke off i rushed in at 39 knots with my boat occasionally jumping out of the water, and fired a spread at a large merchant ship and made a slight turn to parallel the convoy in the opposite direction. When the torpedoes hit the sky filled once again with tracers and shells but i thanks again to the loud rumble of those Mercedes Benz engines I escaped undamaged.

some of those shells splashed awfully close to me though!

if you havnt at least tried the schnell boot mod - its worth looking into. but beware... always leave yourself an escape route, because if those destroyers get your cornered all hell will break loose!

[TarJak]

Originally Posted by GoldenRivet

I have been harbor raiding in the Schnell Boot all weekend

great fun!

Not quite the Silent Hunter eh GR?

[sturmer]

in 1 of Scapa Flow's alleys there is a kind of barrier made from shipwrecks, in the other alleys u have to watch out for destroyers.

Dunkirk has a small subnet about 1500 m of shore.

Reykjavik is not a smart idea to go into, lots of targets but allot of dc's too lol.

its better to stay out of the harbors

sturmer

[deepboat]

Loch Ewe Oct 1939, I didn't do it! Bernard!!

[Steiner88]

i love to get in the harbor.is not easy.But sometimes is the only way to sink ships of more than 10,000 tonnes beyond that entering or leaving is also a challenge.